Tyrannosaurus rex may loom large in our collective imagination, but new research suggests the creature moved more like a supersize barnyard bird than a stomping movie monster. A study in Royal Society Open Science argues that the predator walked and ran on its toes, using quick, choppy steps reminiscent of modern birds rather than long, pounding strides. "Even the iconic T. rex was quite birdlike," University of Edinburgh paleontologist Steve Brusatte, who wasn't involved in the study, tells the New York Times, likening it to "an 8-ton chicken clucking about in the barnyard."
Led by Adrian Boeye, an undergrad biomechanics student at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, the team analyzed tyrannosaur footprints—one nearly 3 feet long—alongside leg bones from specimens including a juvenile T. rex and the famed adult "Sue." After calibrating their models with the movements of living birds, the researchers concluded that T. rex struck the ground toe-first—much like birds and people—and hit top speed by increasing stride frequency, not stride length.
Juveniles may have been able to cover up to 37 feet per second, while massive adults likely maxed out closer to a Komodo dragon's pace, or around 20 feet per second. The Times of London notes that a T. rex on the smaller side may even have been able to beat Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt in a 100-meter race. The work adds to other evidence tying tyrannosaurs closely to birds, suggesting tiptoe-running joins traits like feathers and wishbones as part of an evolutionary story that began long before flight, per the New York Times.
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